


Hell Hath No Fury Like a Lawson Scorned

by LiterallyThePresident



Category: Mass Effect - All Media Types
Genre: BAMF Oriana, F/M, Implied/Referenced Torture, Rescue
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-07
Updated: 2017-07-07
Packaged: 2018-11-29 03:21:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,576
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11432100
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LiterallyThePresident/pseuds/LiterallyThePresident
Summary: He'd been attacked as he was walking home from work, what felt like weeks but was probably just days ago. A woman had asked for his help, and he'd foolishly followed her down an unfamiliar street. He hadn't realized it was an ambush until it was too late. He couldn't help but think that his father wouldn't have made such a stupid mistake.





	Hell Hath No Fury Like a Lawson Scorned

**Author's Note:**

> I'm love these two.

Kolyat wasn't sure how long he'd been there, strapped too tightly to an uncomfortable chair, bleeding freely from multiple wounds and struggling to take each breath thanks to his newly broken ribs. The torture sessions had been pretty consistent, though not a reliable way to tell time. The drugs in his system made the world fuzzy, prevented him from escaping into memory, forcing him to be present and endure their brutality.

He'd been attacked as he was walking home from work, what felt like weeks but was probably just days ago. A woman had asked for his help, and he'd foolishly followed her down an unfamiliar street. He hadn't realized it was an ambush until it was too late. He couldn't help but think that his father wouldn't have made such a stupid mistake.

A distant clamoring caught his attention, and he weakly turned his head towards the sound. He heard screaming, gunfire, the distinct sounds of biotics. He couldn't tell who was winning, or even who was fighting. The sounds ceased after what felt like ten minutes. After a moment, the door slid open, and Kolyat prepared for the worst. But the sight that met him was the last one he'd expected to see. Oriana Lawson stood in the doorway, an imposing figure silhouetted like a hero of myth, scanning the room with flinty blue eyes. Kolyat felt almost dizzy with relief. In that moment she was the most beautiful sight he'd ever seen.

"Oriana..." he rasped, the name scraping against his raw throat, and she finally saw him in the shadows. The look on her face was already thunderous. But when she laid eyes on him, on the bruises, slashes, torn scales, and dried blood that littered his body, the too-tight restraints and obvious signs of torture, her expression shifted to something beyond fury. Something almost primal. She looked like she wanted to say his name, but only a wordless sound of rage came out.

She was at his side in an instant, her gentle hands a direct contrast to her burning eyes as she tried to undo the restraints. When that failed, she snarled and tore them off with her biotics. Feeling rushed painfully back into his limbs, and he couldn't mask a quiet moan of pain. Her eyes softened, the fury receding just a little. Without even asking if he could walk, she slid her arms under him and scooped him up with a strength he'd only been vaguely aware she possessed. She took a moment to just hold him, to drink in his presence, not seeming to mind that he was getting blood on her dress.

" _Kolyat_." she whispered, her voice raw, "Kolyat, I found you. I'm so sorry it took so long, but I'm here now. I'll keep you safe, I swear."

"Oriana." he mumbled, twining his arms around her shoulders as best he could in his state, "Not safe. We need... to leave."

"You're not going anywhere." came a voice that had Kolyat involuntarily tensing. Oriana stiffened, turning towards the source of the voice with a glare. Kolyat's nameless primary tormentor had apparently survived Oriana's whirlwind entrance, and now stood casually in the doorway, blocking their way out. His gun was drawn and aimed directly at Oriana's head, and Kolyat was powerless to protect her.

"Hello, sweetheart. Quite the entrance." the sadistic human said, his voice full of false sweetness, "Now how about you hand over that drell?"

Oriana snarled, clutching Kolyat closer.

"You won't touch him." she hissed, "You won't get near him." Kolyat had never heard her so angry, not even in their worst fights had he seen her like this. Her face was flushed, her teeth bared, her entire body quaking with rage. It was likely only the man in her arms that prevented her from launching herself at the human.

"It doesn't have to be like this." the man simpered, "Drop the drell and I let you leave. You can go home and pretend this never happened."

"Bullshit." she bit out, "Like you'd let me leave now. Like I'd let you lay another filthy hand on him."

"I'd hate for this to get ugly, little lady." the man's amusement was starting to fade, "It'd be a shame to have to ruin that pretty face."

"...won't let you hurt her." Kolyat gritted, trying to force his body to move, to shield her any way he could. The man laughed.

"Surrender and she won't be harmed." he vowed, raising his hand in mock pledge.

"You're lying." Oriana held him still embarrassingly easily, preventing him from doing anything stupid, "And even if you weren't, I wouldn't give Kolyat up. He's mine." He felt heat rise in his frill at her words. Amazing how even in the direst circumstances she still found a way to amaze him.

"That's a shame." the man said, and fired his gun. Kolyat felt a split second of pure panic before the bullet bounced harmlessly off her barrier. Wordlessly, she set him down with exceeding gentleness, squeezing his shoulder reassuringly before standing straight, her eyes hardening as she looked back at the man.

"Big mistake." she said, and the room lit up as she unleashed her biotics once more. It was over pathetically fast, the man realizing within seconds that he'd made a drastic error in judgement. Kolyat couldn't help the small grin of pride as his girlfriend pulverized the human without seeming to break a sweat. He scrambled back, terror in his eyes, but she pinned him down with a biotic slam, looming over him like Kalahira herself come to enact judgement.

"I want to make something abundantly clear." Oriana growled, more menacing than Kolyat had ever heard from her, eerily resembling her sister for a moment, "That drell is off limits. No one harms him and escapes unscathed, got it?" The man nodded frantically, babbling promises and agreements, swearing to never even look at Kolyat again. Oriana glanced over at Kolyat, and he didn't even try to hide his fond smile. For a moment, he thought she'd let the man go. But the sight of him, injured and helpless, must have strengthened her resolve, because she turned back to the human with cold eyes.

"I can't risk you targeting him again." she said, "And I can't forgive you hurting him." And before the man could stutter out a single protest, Oriana's biotics snuffed out his life. Kolyat couldn't say he was displeased. In fact, the sight of his tormentor dead at his girlfriend's feet was immensely satisfying. He wondered if she'd regret it later. She'd always been gentler and more forgiving than her sister.

He unashamedly reached for her as she drew close and collapsed at his side, drawing him into her arms as tightly as she dared.

"I was so scared." she told him, and Kolyat could feel her trembling against him, "You didn't come home, and when I called, C-Sec told me you'd left hours ago. They sent out patrols but no one could find you." he forced his arms to move, clumsily returning her embrace, "I called Miranda panicking, but she told me to stay put, that she'd handle it alone. I couldn't just sit back and wait, so I did some searching of my own. I found this place and... and I couldn't just wait for Miranda to get here while you were being tortured."

"Should've stayed put." he murmured, resting his head on her shoulder, "Safer."

"Why is everyone so obsessed with my safety?" she scowled, pressing her face into his frill, "You and my sister both, you never let me do anything even vaguely dangerous. Haven't I proven I can take care of myself?"

"We love you." he answered. What other answer was there? She didn't seem to know what to say to that.

"Why you?" she changed the subject, "Why go after you? Did they have a reason for all this?"

"It was... revenge." Kolyat winced as his throat reminded him how badly it hurt, "My father... something my father did. I don't... they drugged me. Don't remember..."

"It's fine, Kol." she hushed him, "Its fine. I'm going to get you out of here, there's a hospital not too far from here. Then when you're recovered, I'm taking you out to whatever restaurant you want, and you're not allowed to pay. Then we're going to have a night on the town, hit the arcade, walk the presidium, and you're gonna have a good time no matter how much you don't want to."

"Can't wait." he chuckled, the action causing him to cough, "I'll win you something nice."

"You're so pleasant and cooperative like this." she commented, gathering him closer and lifting him as she stood, "I don't like it. Argue with me or something."

"Your sister's gonna kill you." he said as they started towards the exit. Oriana laughed, and it was the nicest sound he'd heard in days.

"Let her." she said, "You'll avenge me."

"Damn right I will." he brushed his lips against her throat, vowing to kiss her properly when he wasn't drugged to the frills. Carried like a princess by a woman much shorter than him, any other day Kolyat would have been embarrassed. But Oriana was warm and solid, her barrier waved around them, her voice was low and soothing, and even with the dogging pain of his wounds, he couldn't find it in him to feel anything but content.


End file.
